Ronald Ruse went to sleep on Friday without realizing how different his life would be when he woke up the next morning. Earlier that day, he purchased $50 worth of tickets for the record-breaking Mega Millions drawing during his lunch break from work.

The next morning, he checked to see if he matched the Mega Ball on any of his purchases. A little disappointed after realizing he did not match the Mega Ball on a single ticket, he threw away the paper with the winning numbers and decided to check his tickets the next time he went to the store. That afternoon, before heading out of town, he stopped at the Lottery retailer and scanned his tickets. After noticing he had a winner, he asked the clerk to cash it.

“The clerk told me the amount was too large to cash there,” the 25-year-old said. “My friends and I compared the winning numbers and found out I won $250,000. Since April Fools’ Day was the next day, nobody I told believed me.”

The Department of Natural Resources employee immediately called his fiancee, Katie. “I could tell in his voice he wasn’t joking, but I just kept saying, ‘no way.’”

The family-of-four plans to buy a new car and a house for Ronald to fix-up. The winning ticket was purchased at Sheetz, located at 20723 National Highway in Boonsboro. Ronald matched all five numbers, only missing the Mega Ball.

Three other second-tier $250,000 winning tickets were sold in Maryland for that drawing. Those tickets were sold in Timonium, Baltimore and Bel Air. Winning jackpot tickets were sold in Maryland, Kansas and Illinois. The winning jackpot ticket sold in Maryland was purchased at 7-11, located on 8014 Liberty Rd. in Milford Mill. That ticket remains unclaimed. Winners have 182 days from the drawing date to claim their prizes.

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